gutting out to new case

[cricket]

ok here is my question: i have a dell demension 8200 with 2.26ghz-533fsb cpu,
80gb hard drive, dvd-rw drive,floppy drive,geforce ti4600,winxp home
what i want to do is take all the guts out of dell case and put them in an intel 850emv2L
Board and also a new case. the intel850emv2L board supports my rdram(pc800)
and im thinking on getting a antec 3700bqe case.

will the hard drive from dell work in the new set up without erasing/reformatting it?
can i just install everything on new board and be good to go or do i have to reformat hard drive?
i know that the winxp cd that came with my dell dem 8200 is an OEM version so what kind of problem's will that create?

i also read in a review thaT some of the intel 850e*** boards need to update bios first before installing winxp?
is this easy to do? how do i do it?
do i just download bios to a floppy and when system is first started update bios before any OS installs?
if this is the case then i wont be able to use dell dem 8200 hard drive as master hd.

to do this i firgure i need a new case about $75.00
a new motherboard that supports the rdram(pc800) about $60.00
a new HSF About $5.00 + shipping on all 3
i didnt want to have to buy another hard drive or Operating system though

[digitalwanderer]

If you swap motherboards, you're going to have to reformat your hard-drive.

[Ancient]

It's not mandatory to reformat and reinstall. I've done it numerous times, even going from VIA to Intel, Intel to VIA, VIA to NF2, etc. Also, there's a thread at the Ars Technica Forums (http://episteme.arstechnica.com/eve/ubb.x?a=tpc&s=50009562&f=77909774&m=1400925745) that provides a guide for swapping out a m/b without a reinstall.

However, while it can be done, such an install never, ever seems to function as stably or provide the snappy response expected from a fresh install, at least ime. Fortunately, and in your favor, you won't be migrating over to a different chipset so your particular swap shouldn't be a huge problem.

Go ahead and give it a shot. If it bombs, then reformat and reinstall.

[Nutty]

*Nutty's ear prick up, given his new nforce2 mobo is due to arrive in the morning* :)

[cricket]

thanks for info but another question for you:
after i install everything on new board, including exsiting hard drive with win xp on it and my info, when i start the system for very 1st time will it prompt me to reformat then or do i need to go into bios and select cd rom as first boot device, reboot system, and then reformat that way?

i think i may be able to get a copy of winxp pro for little money from friend and may use it as the new OS